‘So he broke these off something.’
‘Yeah.Could be from a child’s toy set?’
‘Maybe, but the snowman is ceramic and the ballet dancer is wood.’
‘True.We need to speak with these girls’ families once I’ve signed these items out of here.Then we dig into these victims’ lives and see if anything overlaps.Start with social media, mutual friends, then go from there.Credit card statements, phone records.If they even crossed paths once, we need to know about it.’
Guidry was already re-covering the bodies.‘Full written reports will go to Fields by morning.Blood work will take longer.’
‘Appreciate it, doctor.’
Ella signed the items out and pocketed them.She and Ripley said their goodbyes and made their way out into the humid dusk air.Ella breathed it in.After thirty minutes of formaldehyde, even car exhaust tasted good.
‘Precinct?’Ripley said.
‘Did you bring your laptop?’
‘No.’
‘Great.Some use you’ll be.’
‘I didn’t know I was going to be dragged into a murder case, Dark.Sorry for not being psychic.’
‘Fine.I’ll call Fields and get Amber Holloway’s address.We’ll go and see how the land lies.’
Ripley smirked and made for their car.Ella followed her.These figurines meant something to a man in New Orleans, and Ella needed to learn this person’s language.Right now he was either resting or preparing for another spree.She didn’t know which, and that was the part that made her walk faster.
CHAPTER NINE
Amber Holloway’s last known address was a shotgun house on a quiet stretch in Gentilly.A chain-link fence ran along the front.The yard was small but someone had put effort into it; flower beds along the path, a hanging basket by the door that was starting to brown at the edges, a ceramic pot with a dead plant.
Ella stepped out of the cruiser and looked at the house over the roof.It was a far cry from the lavish places she’d seen half a mile back.This was a working house on a working street, and a twenty-two-year-old woman who’d lived here was now on a steel table.
‘Not much to look at,’ Ripley said, climbing out the passenger side.
‘Not everyone lives in a palace, Mia.’
They started up the path.Ella had the evidence bag with the snowman necklace in her jacket pocket.She’d signed it out from Guidry with the understanding that it went straight to the evidence room once Ella was finished with it.What she wanted was simple: show the figurine to whoever knew Amber Holloway best and find out if the ceramic snowman meant anything.If it was Amber’s, it pointed one way.If it wasn’t, it pointed elsewhere.
They reached the front door.A screen door sat in front of a solid wooden one, both closed.No doorbell that Ella could see.Ripley knocked, but no one answered.
Ella looked through the screen.The hallway beyond was dim.A pair of sneakers sat by the baseboard.A jacket hung from a hook.They were ordinary things belonging to a woman who would never come back for them.
Ripley knocked again and waited.Then she said, ‘No car out front.Could be at work.’
‘Or at the precinct.Fields said he’d informed Amber’s mom of her passing, but he didn’t say she’d gone into the station.’
Suddenly, the front door exploded outward, hard enough to smash Ella in the shoulder and stagger her back.If she hadn’t been facing Ripley, it probably would have broken her nose.The impact made Ripley drop into a defense stance with a hand on her weapon.When Ella composed herself a second later, Ella found herself staring at a red-eyed woman.
‘What now?’the woman snapped.
She must have been late forties, with short blonde hair cut off at the chin.She was wearing a charcoal bathrobe, and her eyes were so swollen they looked like they'd been sandblasted.
Notwho are you.Notcan I help you.Justwhat now, which told Ella that this woman had already opened her door to strangers today and knew that strangers on the doorstep never brought anything worth hearing.
‘FBI,’ Ella said and pulled out her badge.‘Could we talk to you?’
The woman's eyes went to the badge, then to Ella's face, then to Ripley.Her mouth pulled tight, and her nostrils flared, and for a second, Ella thought she was going to slam the door shut.Instead she gripped the frame with both hands as if the house might slide out from under her if she let go.
